There are a variety of safety concerns associated with using portable electronic devices (e.g., cellular telephones) while driving a vehicle or during other activities. A variety of measures have been taken to address such concerns, including legal measures.
Smart phones and mobile devices have made it easier to remain connected with peers at all times, but when using a mobile device while driving serves as a distraction that can be dangerous to not only the driver but to other drivers on the roads. In addition, research has shown that people who multitask are not able to focus as effectively as those who do a single task at a time. Showing that activities that divide our attention while driving increase the risk for the driver and for other drivers on the road. Some of the tasks affected by distracted driving include lane positioning, speed control, car following, situation awareness, and hazard recognition.
The use of a mobile device is not limited to voice communications. Texting continues to be on the rise and several studies have shown that texting while driving increases distraction while driving. An 18 month study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that the risk of crashing was 23 times greater when drivers were texting than when not texting. Several states across the United States have placed bans of differing degrees on cell phone use. For example, some states have banned hand-held cell phones, while others have only banned the act of texting. Other states have banned all cell phone use while driving, while others have partial bans or bans only for young drivers.
While distracted driving seems to focus on teenage use, recent studies have shown that parents and adults do not practice safe driving habits, regardless of local safe driving laws. A safe driving solution is needed that eliminates distractions but allows drivers to remain connected with friends, family, co-workers and social networks.
Solutions have been proposed which disable or turn off a mobile device when it is detected that the mobile device is traveling at a certain speed. In this case, the mobile device detects its traveling speed, and based on this it may turn off the mobile device or block certain functions, such as texting. However, a primary problem is that the mobile device cannot tell the difference of when the user of the mobile device is driving or when the user is a passenger in a vehicle, a bus, a train, etc. U.S. Pat. No. 7,590,405 takes a different approach by disabling the mobile device as soon as it connected with a control system and then allowing it to be enabled under certain circumstances.
Other solutions include the use of geographic indicators, via GPS, to disable a mobile device when the device is in an area designated as not allowing mobile device use while driving. It has been shown the disabling of a portable electronic device based on the traveling speed of the device, as is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,108,532, 6,188,315, 6,266,589, and 6,311,078.
Geofencing is a virtual perimeter on a geographic area using a location-based service, such as GPS, that can generate notifications when a target device enters or exits the virtual perimeter. The notification may include location of the device and may be sent to a mobile device or an email account. Geofencing can be used to notify parents when a child leaves a designated area. Geofencing has also been used to designate places of work, customer sites, and secure areas. Crossing a geofence may trigger sending a message to a user or can be linked to immobilization of equipment or disablement of features of a device. A mobile device may be disabled based on a geographic location, such as geofencing, or by identifying regional use restrictions as is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,937,868, 6,961,561, 6,973,333, and 7,343,148.
Most of these references deal with preventing use of the device if the device is moving or within a certain area. This assumes that the user is the driver of the vehicle moving, or someone who is not authorized to use a device within the geographic area. There are situations where a user is a passenger in a car, a bus, a train, or not subject to geographic user restrictions, and needs the ability to override a disablement. Examples of overriding disablement are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,731,925 and 7,065,349.
The use of a timer in association with an activation function or a disablement function has been proposed. For example, once it has been determined that a device is moving above a certain speed threshold, or within a geographic area, but the device is in use at the time one of these events occurs, the timer determines how long such use can continue. Other timer based functions include waiting a period of time before disablement or activation, even if the device is not in use, if the period of time of a disabling event is short. Examples of the use of a timer in association with an activation function or a disablement function have been shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,771,946 and 7,065,349.
It has further been shown that it may be desirable to send notifications or alerts to a second user who attempts to communicate with a first user whose device has been disabled. The notice or alert sent to the user of the second device would include specific information about the state of the first device, such as whether the user is currently driving or if the user of the first device is in an area where the device cannot be used. The sending of these notifications or alerts would be triggered by the disablement function. Examples of sending such notifications or alerts are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,937,868, 6,496,703, 6,311,078, and 7,065,349.
An alternative is altering how specific features operate versus disabling those functions. Some art is directed to enabling some calls, such as 911 calls while not allowing others, however, the alteration focuses on whether certain functions can be used. For example, the text function would be blocked completely unless it was used through a hands-free, voice-based system. Examples of this are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,937,868, 6,687,497, 7,433,680, and 7,590,405.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,690,940 shows a system for selectively disabling use of at least selected features of a stand-alone electronic device under a predetermined set of conditions. The system establishes a state of the set of conditions as being satisfied or unsatisfied, communicates the state to the electronic device, and disables the selected features if the state is satisfied. In one embodiment, the system may advantageously be used to prevent vehicular accidents by at least partially disabling non-emergency use of a wireless telephone in a moving vehicle. In another embodiment, the system may be used to disable features of an electronic device within a predetermined area having a boundary that is independent of a communications network cell.
Users need a solution that minimizes distractions while driving, but which allows them to remain connected with other users with minimal intervention from the user.